explorer of worlds – real and imaginary

Not a Van Down by the River, but It’ll Do

Two years ago, my family decided to turn our lives upside down. We’d been living in suburban bliss for thirteen years. But somewhere along the way that bliss became an anesthesia.

I’m restless by nature (see my resume…) but not impulsive. Every new direction I’ve pursued has been made with careful consideration and often for the sake of my family. I left behind a career built on self-taught graphic design skills to care for my newborn son. When I returned to full time employment, I followed a childhood dream of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation – and made it happen.

(Did I mention I can be singularly driven?)

While the constant travel and unpredictable hours satisfied my restless urges, they started to take their toll. My wife, a professional with her own career, was often left to be a single parent for weeks or months on end. My son began struggling both academically and socially.

So I came back home.

We simplified our lives with that change. We had less money, but we had more time. I began providing contract creative services and turned a new focus on my son. We discovered he had dyspraxia, a complex condition I’ve often tried (and failed) to explain to others. During his tenth grade year, we had a major miscommunication with his school.

In short, they weren’t meeting his academic needs. (Hell, due to district policies, they weren’t meeting many of the students academic needs but that’s another blog post.)

It was a problem which we’d allow to creep up on us. We’d been involved with his education, met with teachers, counselors, and had the nightly arguments over homework. But we were still living a different life, distracted from what really mattered.

So we stripped things down even further.

We moved to a smaller house. Found a smaller school, a private school, where teachers weren’t overwhelmed and neither was our son. They challenged him academically while still having the time to address his individual needs.

Sacrifices had to be made but they were material sacrifices. In the smaller house, we became more of a family. My son, who’d hated school, began to flourish. He was finally talking about college and was soon accepted at one. My wife and I started to look into business opportunities we could pursue together. By simplifying our lives, we’d become more free.

Now we’re about to go full on nomadic. Untethered except for a 50 amp power cord and a sewer hose (and even those are optional).

My son leaves for college in August. He’s found a small, private university with plenty of history and a supportive faculty and staff. By that time, we’ll be pursuing new adventures in our life as well.

Don’t worry. Like my excursions to otherworldly places, you’re invited on the journey! Follow my blog or just drop in every so often for an update. (My mailing list is strictly for new release information, but I’m certain I’ll provide an update or two as to where all the fictional work happens.) Let’s see where life takes us!

Great to hear from you, Gerald! Yep, les is more has worked so far. We’ll have to see if we survive the really, really scaled down version of life on the road… Hope the writing is going well – any new releases or publications to share?

Good for you. i know you’ve been percolating on this change for a very long time. You will be so very missed here, but i understand the lure of the open road. I have a bit of that fever myself.
Enjoy and safe travels!

Thanks, Regina! It was a tough decision to even make that first leap only 45 minutes away from our home of nearly fifteen years in Denton. We’d made so many amazing new friends there in just the last four or five years of our stay. I’m just glad I’ll only be a mouse click away from your wisdom. And we’ll definitely be back through. That’s the benefits of a house with wheels and 350 horsepower!

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